Common heart arrhythmia 'linked to increased risk of kidney failure'

People with a common form of irregular heart rhythm, called atrial fibrillation, may face an elevated risk of kidney failure, scientists say.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, worked with Kaiser Permanente scientists in northern California to study 206,229 adults with chronic kidney disease.

Over a five-year period, approximately 16,400 of the patients developed atrial fibrillation.

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The researchers found that people who developed the heart arrhythmia were 67 per cent more likely to progress to end-stage renal disease (complete failure of the kidneys) than those without atrial fibrillation.

The findings suggest that new treatment approaches could be developed to reduce the risk of kidney failure in these patients.

Dr Nisha Bansal, whose findings are published in the journal Circulation, said: 'These novel findings expand on previous knowledge by highlighting that atrial fibrillation is linked to a worse kidney prognosis in patients with underlying kidney dysfunction.'

Earlier this month (January 2013), a new device was approved for NHS use that detects atrial fibrillation during routine blood pressure checks.

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